Cable bundle tie apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention involves a cable bundle tie apparatus to tie up and organize a cable bundle. A strap is made of a flexible material with opposing ends. A plurality of spaced apertures are formed across the strap from the free end towards a middle position. The strap also has pre-formed loop portion with a second aperture. A locking head has a post, a base at a first end of the post, an engagement portion on the second end, and a radially extending disc which separates the engagement portion and base. The engagement portion may be in the form of a sphere, button, hook, or latch. To secure a cable bundle, a loop is formed, folding from the free end of strap over the bundle of cable, while folding over the strap may stretch to securely fasten the bundle of cable, securing the bundle of cable by selecting the appropriate aperture in the series of apertures and stretch the appropriate aperture over the locking head.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Patent Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/690,365, filed Jun. 25, 2012, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to cable containers.

2. Description of the Related Art

Cable tie devices are used to help organize cables, wires, cords, and other similar articles. Typically, the cables are wrapped in a loop, and at least one portion of the loop is tied off (for example with string). Further improvements are desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention involves an improved multipurpose cable tie apparatus, which includes a flexible strap with a loop and a locking head. The locking head is disposed on one end, opposite to which extrudes a base of varying dimensions. Intermediate and along the axis is a radially extruding which separates the opposing sphere and extruded base. The flexible strap has as series of apertures formed therein and additional aperture for the locking head. The flexible strap also has a pre-formed loop.

The invention overcomes the disadvantages of having a plethora of cables where the need for cables works in parallel with products of society. Embodiments of the invention organize and bundle said cables in order to minimize space and simplify when not in use. The preformed loop on one of the sides helps to prevent misplacement of the apparatus while the cable is in use. Both the strap and locking head may vary in color, with the locking head being made out of a durable material such as high density plastic, metal, or rubber and the flexible strap made of a more flexible material such as rubber silicone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A is a side view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a top plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1C is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIGS. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 1D is a cross-sectional view taken through view plane 1D of FIG. 1C.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention engaging a USB plug.

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention engaging a USB plug and a plurality of cable/wire.

FIG. 3B is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention engaging a USB plug and a bundle of cable/wire.

FIG. 3C is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention engaging a USB plug and a loop of cable/wire.

FIG. 3D is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention engaging a mid portion of a wire/cable.

FIG. 3E is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 3D with a bundling of the wire/cable.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken through view plane 4 of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 5A is a side view of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5B is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 5A.

FIG. 5C is a side view of a still further embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5D is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 5C.

FIG. 5E is a front side view of the embodiment of FIGS. 5C and 5D.

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of an attachment component according to one embodiment of the present invention, separate from the entire device.

FIG. 6B is a top plan view of FIG. 6A.

FIG. 6C is a side view of FIG. 6A.

FIG. 7A is a side view of an additional embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7B is a top plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 7C is a bottom plan view of the embodiment of FIGS. 7A and 7B.

FIG. 7D is front side view of the embodiment of FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C.

FIG. 7E is the view of FIG. 7A with interior walls being shown in broken lines.

FIG. 7F is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, and 7E.

FIG. 8A is a side view of another embodiment of the present invention having a cavity shown in broken lines for receiving a locking head.

FIG. 8B is a bottom plan view of FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8C is a side view of the embodiment of FIG. 8A with a locking head disposed in the cavity.

FIG. 8D is a perspective view of FIG. 8C.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are side and perspective views, respectively, of one embodiment of a locking head according to the present invention.

FIGS. 9C and 9D are side sectional, and side views, respectively, of a second embodiment of a locking head according to the present invention.

FIGS. 9E and 9F are side and perspective views, respectively, of a third embodiment of a locking head according to the present invention.

FIGS. 9G and 9H are side and perspective views, respectively, of a forth embodiment of a locking head according to the present invention.

FIG. 10A is a bottom view of another embodiment of the present invention that includes an identifier having a cavity shown in broken lines for receiving a locking head.

FIG. 10B is a side view of the embodiment of FIG. 10A showing an identifier located on a side portion.

FIGS. 10C and 10D are side and perspective views, respectively, of a locking head that includes an identifier according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 10E is a perspective view of FIG. 10B including a locking head of FIGS. 10C and 10D.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the drawings represent embodiments of the present invention, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated in order to better illustrate and explain the present invention. The exemplification set out herein illustrates an embodiment of the invention, in one form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The embodiments disclosed below is/are not intended to be exhaustive or limit the invention to the precise form disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the embodiment is chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may utilize its teachings.

Referring to the drawings generally, cable bundle tie apparatus 10 is shown bundling articles such as wires or cables. Typically, users of computers and other electrical equipment use such wire or cables to electrically couple various components of a system. Often, such cables or wires may become tangled and interfere with the smooth operation of such systems. With the embodiments of the present invention, once components are coupled together, excess cables or wires may be looped and/or bundled together then secured in the loop or bundle by the arrangements of the embodiments of the present invention.

Strap 10, such as depicted in the embodiment of FIG. 1, may be made from a flexible material, such as rubber, metal, and plastic or other related elastic flexible material. Strap 10 includes a flexible body having a free end and a series of apertures 11 extending from the free end across strap 10 to a middle portion (e.g., see FIGS. 1B, 1C, and 2), opposing from base end 12. The plurality of apertures 11 allow for adjustably securing strap 10 about bundle 51 (e.g., see FIG. 4). Strap 10 has base end 12 which extends on the same plane as apertures 11 and in the illustrated embodiment includes a molded aperture or loop in the form of plug enclosure 14.

In one embodiment, shown in particular in FIG. 2, base end 12 includes an integrally formed cable terminal or end plug 50. Cable terminal 50 is structured and arranged to connect to cable or wire 51. In other alternative embodiments, base end 12 has plug enclosure 14 for receiving a suitable cable terminal (not shown), which may be secured by an interference fit or by elastic expansion around such a cable terminal. In another alternative embodiment (also not shown), cable or wire 51 may be secured within base end 12 (either by interference fit or by fusing, melding, bonding, cementing, uniting, heat treating [melting], joining, or otherwise attaching together), such that cable terminals are at opposite ends of cable or wire 51 but are not associated with base end 12.

As depicted in FIG. 6A, locking head 30 has central post portions 34 and 35 each of which has an end that connects to disc 33. In addition, post 35 is connected to a base, in this exemplary embodiment being four sided polygon 32. On the other end of disc 33, post 34 connects to sphere 31. In the illustrated embodiment, Sphere 31 has a diameter that is greater than the diameters of apertures 11 so that sphere 31 may effectively latch or otherwise engage strap 10 at one of aperture 11. In this exemplary embodiment, locking head 30 may be made of materials such as rubber, metal, wood, resin, and plastic, or other materials with similar properties. Other embodiments of locking head 30 are shown in FIGS. 9A-9H. With strap 10 being positioned in a loop shape and secured in that position by sphere 31, the looped strap 10 may serve to attach around, tie and bundle cable or wire 51 (see FIG. 4). Apertures 11 are sized such that the flexible material of strap 10 may elastically deform to stretch around and over sphere 31. Disk 33 is used to secure the locking head to one side of the strap 10 by aperture 13 is sized to stretched around and over disk 33 where it remains static around post 35. Post 35 fits with base 12 of strap 10. Locking head base 32, which may be formed by extrusion then secured to post 35, fits within base 12 of cable strap 10.

In operation when locking head 30 and strap 10 have been joined to form a cable secure tie apparatus, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, end plug 50 is placed through plug enclosure 14, which may be stretched to fit securely around end plug 50. In other embodiments, see FIGS. 3D and 3E, plug enclosure 14 may be used to house cable/wire 51 at an intermediate point, so that locking had 30 does not necessarily need to be located adjacent the location of end plug 50. Bundling cable/wire 51 attached to plug 50 may be accomplished by folding the free end of strap 10 over the bundled cable 51, while folding over strap 10 may stretch to securely bundle cable 51. To finish securing the bundle of cable 51 one selects the appropriate one of apertures 11 so that the appropriate aperture 11 is pushed over sphere 31 of locking head 30. Selecting the appropriate aperture 11 depends on both the size of the cable and the number of loops in a bundle (see FIG. 3B) or the number of times the cable is looped (see FIG. 3C). In some embodiments for larger cables, strap 10 may be larger while in other embodiments for smaller cables strap 10 may be relatively smaller.

Plug enclosure 14 may accommodate different size cable plugs, for example for USB ports, VGA ports, power cable plugs, coaxial cable connectors, ethernet connectors, fiber optic cable crystal head, etc. In some embodiments for larger cable plugs plug enclosure 14, and optionally locking head 30, may be larger and in other embodiments for smaller cable plugs plug enclosure 12, and optionally locking head 30, may be smaller. Also, apertures 11 in some embodiments may have a relatively large size to accommodate larger sized spheres 31, or alternatively may have a relatively small size to accommodate a smaller sized sphere 31. The length of strap 10 may be made in various sizes to accommodate larger and smaller cable plug 50 and bundles of cables and wires 51. Locking head 30 may scale up or down depending on the size of strap 10 to accommodate larger and smaller cable plug 50 and bundles of cables and/or wires 51. Further, locking head 30 may have alternative orientations on plug enclosure 14, see FIGS. 5A and 5B showing a second orientation relatively transverse to strap 14, or FIGS. 5C and 5D showing a third orientation disposed on the side of plug enclosure 14 that extends away from the plane defined by strap 10.

FIGS. 7A-7F show an embodiment of the present invention wherein locking head 30 (FIGS. 6A-6C) is a separate piece from strap 10. In this embodiment, strap 10 accepts locking head 30 through aperture 13, which is structured and arranged to accept locking head 30. In other embodiments, locking head 30 is formed integrally with plug enclosure 14.

FIGS. 8A-8D show an embodiment of the invention showing locking head 30 being integrated into strap 10′ which has cavity 15 for accepting locking head 30′. As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, locking head 30′ has base 93 which is configured to fit into cavity 15 so that locking head 30′ may be fused, melded, bonded, cemented, fluxed united, and heat treated connection or otherwise bonded into a single unitary strap 10. For example, strap 10 may be made of silicone, and locking head 30′ may be made of silicone or some other suitable plastic having sufficient rigidity to secure within one of apertures 11.

Also, while many of the embodiments have locking head 30 in the form of a sphere, FIGS. 9C-9H depict alternative acceptable forms. In FIGS. 9C and 9D, locking head 30″ includes base 95 and threaded post 96 which may be attached to button head 94 that may also engage one of apertures 11. In FIGS. 9E and 9F, locking head 30′″ includes hook 98 for engaging one of apertures 11. In FIGS. 9G and 9H, locking head 30″″ includes latch arm 99 which is similarly capable of engaging one of apertures 11. In these embodiments, base 95 may be as depicted (similar to FIGS. 6A-6C) or alternatively in the form of base 93 of FIGS. 9A and 9B and fused to strap 10. In further embodiments (not shown), the locking head may be formed of multiple pieces then assembled, fused, or otherwise secured together to perform the function of engaging one of apertures 11.

As showing in FIGS. 10A-10E, embodiments of the invention may include identification markings. Strap 60 may include identifier 62 apparent on the surface of strap 60, and may include identifier 63 on the side of strap 60. In this exemplary embodiment marking(s) means, identifiers 62 and 63, include text, while additionally including other markings, symbols, and/or graphics such as a logo, advertisement or figure may be alternatively located on strap 60, for example to show identification, promotion, or advertisement. In this exemplary embodiment, identifiers 62 and 63 project outwards from strap 60, alternative embodiments may embed identifiers 62 and 63 inwardly into strap 60, or embedded within strap 60 which may be made from a transparent or translucent material allowing identifiers 62 and 63 to be viewed from any perspective. Identifiers 62 and 63 may be deposited on strap 60 or associated with strap 60 by a fused, glued, melded, bonded, cemented, fluxed united, and/or heat treated connection. Alternatively, identifiers 62 and 63 may be laser marked on the strap 60, written on strap 60, inked to or on strap 60. The material of strap 60 may be a solid black, white, or colored opaque material. Alternatively, strap 60 may be a clear, transparent material with or without coloring, or translucent in varying degrees.

Looking in particular at FIGS. 10C and 10D, locking head 65, similar in contour to locking head 30′ of FIGS. 9A-B, but which alternatively may have a contour similar to FIGS. 6A-C and/or FIGS. 9C-H, may include one or more of identifiers 64, 66 and/or 68. While in this exemplary embodiment identifiers 64, 66, and 68 include text, in alternative embodiments such identifiers may include logos and/or figure(s), for example to show identification. Identifiers 64, 66, and 68 may protrude outwards and/or inwards locking head 65, deposited on locking head 65, or associated with locking head 65 by a fused, glued, melded, bonded, cemented, fluxed united, and/or heat treated connection. Alternatively, identifiers 64, 66, and/or 68 may be written on locking head 65, lasered on the head 65, inked to or on locking head 65.

When locking head 65 and strap 60 are joined and/or assembled together, see FIG. 10E, identifiers, e.g. identifier 68, may show through strap 60 when made from a transparent, semi-transparent, and/or translucent material. One or more of identifiers 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, and/or 69 may be positioned on strap 60 and/or locking head 65. In some embodiments, strap 60 may comprise several planar layers, and one of such identifiers may be included on a single or multiple layers on strap 60. Similarly, such identifiers may be deployed on a single or multiple laminar planes disposed on locking head 65.

While this invention has been described as having an exemplary design, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A cable bundle tie apparatus to tie up and organize a cable bundle comprising: a strap made of a flexible material, said strap having a plurality of spaced apertures and a plug enclosure portion disposed at a base end of said strap; and a locking head coupled to said base end of said strap, said apertures and said locking head structured and arranged such that said locking head may extend through one of said apertures.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said locking head is joined to said strap through an aperture of said strap.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said locking head is integrally formed with said strap.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said locking head has a engagement portion in the form of one of a sphere, button, hook, and latch.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a cable terminal attached to said plug enclosure.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said flexible material is one of rubber, metal, and plastic.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said locking head is made of material including at least one of rubber, metal, wood, resin, and plastic.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of said strap and said locking head is colored.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of said strap and said locking head includes a marking.
 10. A cable bundle tie apparatus to tie up and organize a bundle of cable or wires comprising: a strap made of flexible material, said strap having a plurality of spaced apertures and a plug enclosure on a first end, said plug enclosure including a hole; a locking head having a post, a base on a first end of said post, and a spherical head on a second end of said post, said post extending through said hole.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the head is joined to said flexible strap and acts as the locking member for said series of aperture.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said locking head further includes a disc disposed on said post between said sphere and said base, said hole structured and arranged to accept said sphere and said disc.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a cable terminal integrally formed with said plug enclosure.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said flexible material is one of rubber, metal, and plastic.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said locking head is made of material including at least one of rubber, metal, wood, and plastic.
 16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein at least one of said strap and said locking head is colored.
 17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein at least one of said strap and said locking head includes a marking.
 18. A cable bundle tie apparatus to tie up and organize a cable bundle comprising: a strap made of a flexible material, with opposing free and base loop ends, said strap having a plurality of spaced apertures formed across said strap from said free end towards a middle position, said base loop end having a pre-formed loop portion, said pre-formed loop portion having a second aperture; a locking head having a post, a base at a first end of said post, an engagement portion on a second end of said post, and a radially extending disc which separates said engagement portion and said base; wherein to secure a cable bundle with said strap and said locking head, a loop is formed, folding from the free end of strap over the bundle of cable, while folding over the strap may stretch to securely fasten the bundle of cable, securing the bundle of cable by selecting the appropriate aperture in the series of apertures and stretch the appropriate aperture over the engagement portion.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said pre-formed loop portion is secured to one end of a cable plug.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18, further including a cable wherein said pre-formed loop portion is secured at a point along the cable in between ends of the cable.
 4. 21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said flexible material is one of rubber, metal, and plastic.
 22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said locking head is made of material including at least one of rubber, metal, wood, resin, and plastic.
 23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said locking head and strap are connected by one of a fused, melded, bonded, cemented, fluxed united, and heat treated connection.
 24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said engagement portion has the form of one of a sphere, button, hook, and latch.
 25. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said second aperture and said locking head are oriented transversely to said strap.
 26. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said pre-formed loop portion extends from said strap and has a first end relatively coplanar with said strap, and a second end extending beyond a plane defined by said strap, and said locking head extends from said second end of said pre-formed loop portion.
 27. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein at least one of said strap and said locking head is colored.
 28. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein at least one of said strap and said locking head includes a marking. 